Review – Balance of Terror by KS Augustin

A while back, I read In Enemy Hands, a science fiction romance by KS Augustin, and I absolutely loved it. I never forgot it, so every once in a while I would look up the author’s site to see if the second book had been published.

Now it has!

I promptly bought a copy and immediately started reading. I finished in just a few days despite the fact that it is over 100,000 words.

Although the initial novel in this series was published by Carina Press, this novel is self-published. While I don’t really get the cover, the editing and pacing in the novel is superb, and it is well laid-out and professional.

Here’s the blurb:

Save one man? Or save billions? It’s Moon’s choice.

Stellar physicist Moon Thadin and amnesiac savant Srin Flerovs are on their way to possible sanctuary with an old research partner of Moon’s. But between them and safety lie a cunning arms dealer, a suspicious pirate captain, and a universe of unfamiliarity.

Refusing to turn her research into a weapon, Moon and Srin outran the Republic in IN ENEMY HANDS, only to find that the anti-Republic rebels they’re heading for want her knowledge for the same reason, and they’re willing to trade critical gene therapy for it. Withhold the therapy and Srin will die. Share the research and billions will die.

Can the needs of one ever truly outweigh the needs of many?

When we left our heroes, Srin and Moon were fleeing from Srin’s former keepers, the operatives of the Republic who tampered with his genes and kept him amnesiac for over 20 years. They fled with the help of Moon’s former research partner, Kad, who is a member of a resistance movement. They are now on a backwater of a world and Moon has, with the help of some friendly doctors, concocted a cocktail of drugs that keep Srin alive and his memory intact.

After his health is finally stable, Moon finally takes a chip that Kad gave her and plays the recording that is stored on it. Following the directions on the recording, she withdraws a large sum of money and they travel to another town to make contact with the man who will bring them to Kad and his rebellion.

But it turns out, everyone has an agenda.

Everyone.

What follows is an epic journey across an inhospitable planet, and then across the galaxy. All along the way they have hard decisions to make, including at one point a decision on whether or not to join the crew of a very intriguing ship owned by a man named Quinton, who is the subject of a followup novel. Sometimes I wondered why Moon and Srin kept on going where they were going since they knew the decisions they would have to make once they got there–and that it would likely not go well for them. However, they really did have few other options. As a reader, I genuinely didn’t see there was any way they could get their happy ending.

But a good author leaves at least one door ajar a teeny, tiny bit.

If you like science fiction romance, this ought to be a great read for you. I’ll be giving it five stars!

Actually, I was probably guilty of exaggerating there. I know of two cases where people did e-book to finish an existing series. Shanna Swendson wrote two more (and one forthcoming) Enchanted Inc. books as e-books, and Moira Moore’s last Heroes book is an e-book.

It is becoming more and more of an option these days. Personally, I do like having the support of a publisher and will continue to try to find them for my novellas and novels. Petroleum Sunset is hard enough to publish on my own and they are only short stories.